The author conducts a comparative analysis of architectural temple structures in the cultures of Ancient Egypt, Sumer, China, and India, highlighting general and special trends and patterns. In particular, it is revealed that the original form of temples, the building plan was based on a circle and a rectangle as a projection of the feminine and masculine principles, the creation of the Earth and Sky. The square symbolized the four cardinal directions, the elements. The shape of the pyramids was a consequence of the fact that they were perceived as the union of Earth and Sky, and temples - as the dwelling of God or the place of his focus. The well-known historical material shows that the idea of space is an organic part of the architecture of ancient civilizations of the East, reflecting the worldview of the peoples who inhabited it.

Keywords: Babylon, Ancient India, Ancient China, castes, God's dwelling, space projections, temple architecture.

Ancient man felt the influence of the sky with surprising acuteness, and therefore it played a dominant role in his private and public life. The architecture of ancient cultures is the best proof of this influence. Everywhere you can find symbols of certain celestial phenomena. Civilizations that emerged in the Mediterranean (Egypt, Mesopotamia), China and India were among the first to reflect the idea of space in their architecture. Already in the 4th - 3rd millennium BC, at the initial stage of the development of these civilizations, architectural ensembles of circular and rectangular shapes were created.

Sumerian culture had oval and rectangular shapes in its architecture. A distinctive feature of each city was the main temple, located on a high terrace, growing into a massive tower with ledges, a ziggurat. The center of the Sumerians ' city was a temple. This sacred center performed the main functions-it kept in touch with the cosmos, the gods, and thereby ensured the protection of the city, its prosperity. The archetypes of all Babylonian cities were located in constellations: Sippar had its archetype in the constellation Cancer, Nineveh-in the constellation Ursa Major, Assyria - in the star Arcturus.

All the Egyptian pyramids had a special feature-the entrance was located on the north side, which was done in order to tie the entrance to the circumpolar stars, which, remaining as if forever motionless, were considered symbols of eternity and the end of the pharaoh's heavenly journey. The placement of the three pyramids of Giza was according to a single plan, which corresponds to Orion. The geometric system of axes connects the central pyramid of Khafre with the small pyramid. If two pyramids are laid out along the same diagonal line, then the third, smaller Menkaura, is installed with a slight deviation. Scientists have established that the placement of the pyramids at Giza is predetermined by the location of stars in the constellation Orion (Edwards, 1993).

page 117
The star Sirius "Sothis" and the Sphinx formed the basis of a complex of religious and cult traditions of ancient Egypt. The creation of the Sphinx (2782 BC) refers to the time when, in the understanding of the Egyptians, the phenomenon preceding the flood of the Nile was the first morning visibility of Sirius. "In this epoch, a solar calendar could have been introduced, the first day of the year of which coincided with the day of visibility of the star Sirius" (Kuzmin, 1998, p. 200). The Sphinx represented the comprehension of a major astronomical observation of the priests. It could also symbolize the measurement of the duration of the solar year, was the first philosophical awareness of time and its cyclicity. Traces of water erosion on its surface could indicate ritual hemorrhages, the purpose of which is to "simulate" the Nile flood, which brings fertility and thereby gives life to people. The Sphinx was a kind of central figure, as indicated by its orientation relative to the countries of the world. His gaze is directed precisely to the east, as if guarding the place of sunrise.

One of the basic Chinese truths is that the sky dominates everything. In ancient India, Harappan tablets depicted constellations, and inscriptions claimed that the Harappans were descended from the heavenly bodies: the Sun, Moon and stars.

The relationship of architecture with the environment, the construction of a temple on a hill or high, mythical place, the use of decorative cosmic symbols-all this suggests that the temple was a reflection of the order and laws of the cosmos.

Temples of ancient cultures were characterized by decoration with columns, sculptures, a special layout of space, but each culture has its own characteristics.

The Sumerian temple was decorated with columns and semi-columns made of raw wood, covered with patterns of zigzags, rhombuses and triangles. Sometimes the interior walls were decorated with frescoes with images of humans and animals, geometric motifs. In the central rectangular sanctuary was a statue of the god, in front of which was placed a table for offerings. The first temples in Eridu were a table, an altar, and an image of the God himself. Later, in Kafajah, the entire area was filled with sculptures depicting ordinary mortals, including copper statues of naked men, which were probably gifts to the temple gods. Through these statues, worshippers turned to the gods. The temple embodied the entire community. The Sumerians believed that the city was the property of the patron deity of the city, to whom he had confided on the day of its creation, and expressed this belief with the altar image and emblem of the city. The temple in Eridu, as shown by excavations, was repeatedly destroyed and restored, archaeologists have unearthed 12 levels. The oldest one was built on a pristine dune, pure sand. It turned out that Eridu is an ancient mining city, which reveals the period of its life for 2000 years [Sumer..., 1997, p. 53]. Uruk, which according to the Old Testament is the biblical city of Yerech, lies about 35 miles from al-Ubayyid. Its white temple, possibly dedicated to the god An, rises on an artificial mound, unlike Eridu. The 40-foot-high mound rises to the sky like a stairway between Earth and Sky, one of the earliest ziggurats, and the most original in Sumerian architecture.

The idea that the gods live on the tops of mountains formed the idea of the shape of the temple. The Tower of Babel, the temple of Marduk, was to gather all the people and bring them to heaven. From its galleries, the priests watched the movements of the planets and suns. The sacred number of the seven planets takes place in the history of creation. Observations of planets gave human thinking a boost that lasted for millennia. These observations of planetary movements could be interpreted as a manifestation of arbitrary, independent life. In the movements of the planets, there was astronomical proof that the heavenly bodies were animate beings. On Sumerian seals, the names of celestial bodies often accompanied the names as a sign of courtesy, reverence, and respect. We can see analogies with the Harappan seals (Ancient India).

page 118
If we turn to Ancient Egypt, we will also see that the temple embodies a certain mythical place, namely a primeval hill. It stands on the piece of land that first emerged from the waters of the stream and on which God the Creator set foot to begin the work of creating the world. Thus, the temple traces its origin through a long chain of changes, from that ancient sanctuary on a primeval hill, erected by the Creator God himself. Every great temple of the late era is associated with a similar myth, which traces its genealogy to the beginning of the creation of the world. Hence, the temple is associated with the beginning of the world. In its very architectural appearance, many things remind us of the past. Jan Assmann writes that fluted surfaces are nothing more than an imitation in stone of the texture of primitive buildings made of bundles of reeds. The temple reminds of how it was built in the primitive era, it is an image of the cosmos in a temporary sense. This space was filled with activity and life through the relief image of myths, cult scenes on the walls of temples.

When we talk about Ancient Egypt, we immediately recall such phrases as" The image of heaven"," The Temple of the whole world"," The earthly abode of the gods "- these are the words that Egypt is praised in the text from the"Hermetic Vault". The temple embodies heaven on earth, but it is also heaven and earth combined. "He is a vessel with sacred contents in the profane world, and he is also a world filled to the brim with the presence of God," writes Jan Assman (Assman, 1999, p.62). The Egyptian temple, when viewed from the outside, appears to be a sealed vessel containing divine power, and to the one inside, this vessel represents the entire world. Thus, the temple depicts the world. The statue of God fills the temple with divine "radiation", and God simultaneously fills the entire cosmos with light. The presence of God in everything is at the heart of the cosmic symbolism of the temple. Naos, in which the cult statue stands, is at the same time the space of the sky where the gods live. The doors of naos are the gates of heaven through which the sun god passes in the morning. The rest of the temple is the world, and the Sun-God, rising in the east, illuminates it with his light.

In a late Egyptian temple, the floor symbolizes the earth or, according to some scholars, the flood of the Nile, and the ceiling - the sky. The columns are shaped like plants growing on the ground, and the lower part of the walls is decorated with images of swamp grasses or processions of "Nile deities" carrying sacrificial gifts and always facing the interior of the temple, this is the embodiment of the social aspect, the interpretation of the cosmos as a society. Ceilings representing the sky are decorated with stars or astronomical emblems. The intermediate space between floor and ceiling, i.e. earth and sky, is occupied by wall reliefs - iconic scenes that fill this stone cosmos with activity and life. Columns with images of plants and friezes with marsh grasses embody the cosmic aspect of the earth, but archaeologists do not have a common opinion on this. Some believe that the columns are stone pillars that are only decorated with stylized motifs of stems and flowers. "The task of the Egyptian column is not so much to support, to carry, as to provide a fence, to show the way, to form a forest around the pilgrim," B. R. wrote. Vipper, proving that its task is more decorative than constructive [Vipper, 1970, p. 385]. Explaining its peculiar dismemberment, he writes that unlike the Greek column, whose vertical flutes seem to emphasize its desire to counteract the pressure of heavy masses, the Egyptian column is dominated by a horizontal division, symbolizing movement around the column along with a procession of worshippers [ibid.].

Each temple has its own god, but along with this god, others are always worshipped. In the cosmic dimension, the multiplicity of gods is the multiplicity of forces whose combined actions support the existence of the world. In this multiplicity, the life of the cosmos and nature is manifested. The image of God could combine the image of God with the image of God.

page 119
animal and human, thus emphasizing its super-task and its predominance over man.

A special reverence for cone-shaped shapes has formed in the mind. The step pyramid (funeral temple) was the culmination of this archetype of consciousness. If the hill was identified with the act of creation, then the sun was a beacon that showed the Pharaohs the way to eternal life. The Egyptians believed that the spirit of the Pharaoh ascends to the sky on the steps of the pyramid and then soars up the inclined line of the sun's ray. The transition from the idea of stepping to a continuous line is a step in the effort to shape the perfect pyramid. The result was a "diamond-shaped pyramid". Its sides, rising steeply at the base, pass, somewhere in the middle, to a more gentle slope. This was the impetus for creating a real pyramid. It was the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu.

Pyramid texts contain allegories related to the stars and their movement. The main theme is connected with the belief that the Pharaoh will be reborn as a star, the soul will go to heaven and find refuge in the starry world of Osiris-Orion, the god of the dead and rebirth. The constellation Orion was also one of the posthumous abodes of the Pharaohs ' souls. Egyptologists have long come to the conclusion that the rituals of rebirth were a prerequisite for the transformation of the deceased Pharaoh into Osiris, in his hypostasis Sahu, that is, in the form of a God. Orion. A striking example is the ceiling in the Senmut tomb with the image of Orion. It is known that the star Sirius always rises immediately behind the constellation Orion, and the goddess Isis, who was identified with Sirius, forms a pair with Osiris-Orion.

Interestingly, the same age as Stonehenge is the Mohenjo-Daro culture (Ancient India), which had one of the most perfect urban systems, brick architecture, with water supply and sewerage. Water is life. Many rivers in India are deeply revered, but the most sacred river is the Ganges, which is personified with the all-powerful mother goddess, who heals both the body and soul of a person. The Ganges is described in the verses of the Rig Veda, a book of Indo-Aryans. They believed in the fire god Agni, who mediated between the gods and humans. The believer sought to find the unity of his soul with God, with the Cosmos, tried to comprehend the harmony of birth. In the Rig Veda, this state was called Rita, and later Brahman. The realization of universal energy freed the soul from the chain of births and reincarnations. Indo-Aryan society was divided into castes: brahmins-priests, poets, kshatriyas-leaders, warriors, vaishyas-merchants and artisans, and sudras-servants, workers. The division into castes and clans has been characteristic since the Harappan period. The cosmic image on the seals helped distinguish individual members of clan groups. The image of animals (bulls, rhinos, elephants) spoke about the social affiliation and responsibilities of this representative. The image of a unicorn is most often found, apparently, the unicorn clan occupied a dominant position in Harappan society. In Indian fairy tales of the 1st millennium BC, the unicorn is a symbol of a superman, a demigod. Members of this clan could belong to the top of the priests.

In his book on castes, A. M. Hockart draws attention to the fact that when a city is created, four groups of inhabitants settle inside a fenced square or circle, adhering to the orientation to the four cardinal directions. This arrangement is not unique to India; many examples of this can be found in a wide variety of peoples; most often, each of the cardinal directions is associated with one of the elements and one of the seasons, as well as with the emblematic color of the caste living there. In India, the brahmans lived in the north, the kshatriyas in the east, the vaishyas in the south, and the sudras in the west. Thus, the city was divided into quarters in the literal sense of the term, which originally meant a quarter. It is quite clear that this layout is closely related to the more general problem of orientation, which played an extremely important role in all traditional civilizations of antiquity, whether it concerned the city as a whole or individual buildings [Guenon, p.40].

page 120
If we start from the North and go around in a circle in the direction of pradakshina, we will find that the castes follow each other in a strictly regular order. It remains only to ponder what is the symbolic meaning of such a settlement, correlated with the four cardinal directions. In fact, it is based on the fact that the traditional city plan imaginatively reproduces the Zodiac; this directly returns us to the question of the correspondence of the cardinal directions and seasons: the winter solstice corresponds to the North, the spring equinox to the East, the summer solstice to the South, and the autumn equinox to the West. When divided into quarters, each of them should naturally correspond to one of the groups that unite the signs of the Zodiac in triads, which includes the sign in which the solstice or equinox is observed - it can be called a "cardinal sign" - and two neighboring signs. Consequently, in each square, if the city fence had the shape of a circle, or on each side of a quadrilateral, if we are dealing with a straight city layout, three signs were represented. Moreover, the quadrilateral shape is most characteristic of the city-it expresses the idea of stability that underlies any permanent settled economy; note that we are not talking about the celestial Zodiac, but only about its image, a kind of its terrestrial projection. There is no doubt that ancient astrologers, for similar reasons, drew horoscopes in the form of a square, each side of which was occupied by three zodiac signs. Thus, it is clear that the distribution of castes within the city exactly follows the course of the annual cycle, which is nominally counted from the winter solstice. True, there are traditions where the beginning of the year is tied to a different point of the solstice or equinox, but in these cases, specific traditional forms only emphasize secondary cyclical periods in a special way. However, this has nothing to do with Hindu tradition. Hindu tradition especially insists on dividing the annual cycle into two halves: ascending and descending, which, respectively, open the solar "gates" of winter and summer.

If we turn to the culture of India during the second century BC, then the Stupa can serve as an example of the model of the Universe in architecture. This structure had an unusual shape, based on ancient funeral rituals. The stupa has become a complete Buddhist symbol of Nirvana. The plan of the Stupa is a circle with four entrances, a double staircase in the southern part leads up to a circular bypass. At the top is a square platform, on which stands a three-tiered umbrella, symbolizing the connection with the universe. Some stupas have a system of walls that form spokes and wheel rims, while others have swastika-shaped walls. The wheel symbolizes the Sun, the infinity of time. Swastika means universal dance around the divine center, protects people from demons. The ensemble of the great Stupa in Sanchi, built of brick and stone, is complemented by the western gate with hideous dwarfs identified with negative karma, richly decorated with bas-reliefs depicting scenes of the Buddha's lives. In its original form, the gate was located on the four sides of the world. In the Amaravati Stupa, as well as in the cave temples, there are many inscriptions telling about donations to the temple.

The ancients considered the Earth to be a living organism with its own nervous system in the form of invisible lines, which the Chinese called "dragon veins". Subsequently, they divided them into two types: negative and positive, or yin and yang, which were depicted as a white tiger and a blue dragon. It was believed that yang, the male forces of the dragon, run along mountain ranges, and ying, the female ones-along valleys and rivers. These forces symbolized the cosmic and terrestrial forces that unite in a marriage union and give birth to life.

A t-shaped silk banner was found in Princess Dai's tomb, which shows multicolored drawings of representations of the universe, with the underworld below and the heavens above opening their gates to receive the deceased into the world of shadows. This tomb resembles a pyramid with the top down. This is artificially raised-

page 121
a hill with a flat top, and inside a crypt with coffins and four compartments for burial items [Buried Kingdoms..., 1998, p. 147]. In the 1st millennium AD, the vault of large stone tombs sometimes depicted the starry sky in the form of separate constellations, with the constellation Ursa Major being particularly prominent, and images of a Dragon, a Bird, a Tiger and a Turtle were placed on four vertical walls.

The structure of religious, residential and palace buildings in China is quite similar. Various compositional systems and types of buildings were formed: palaces, temples, gazebos, galleries, and residential buildings. A special feature was the use of curved roofs dou-gun ("flying roof"), superimposed, like capitals, on pillars. According to the rules, dou-gunas could only be used in palaces and temples.

The main type of dwelling in the ancient settlements of China were round dugouts (semi-dugouts) with a round or square ground plan. At the same time, there were houses with wooden frames (most often made of bamboo) or mud walls. The layout of individual buildings and ensembles obeyed the rules of the "fen-shui" ("wind-water") system, developed in the form of instructions for builders. The fengshui system is based on the doctrine of atmospheric adverse influences and ways to protect against them. One of the main rules of this system is the orientation of buildings along the South-North axis, and the main facades - south.

With the spread of Buddhism in the Wei period (386-534), cave temples and pagodas ("bao - ta"-the treasure tower) appeared in China. Their forms were influenced by the Indian architectural traditions of chaitya temples and stupas, the cosmicity of which was mentioned earlier. However, unlike the ancient Indian traditions, pagodas in China (and later in Japan) were multifunctional: they were used as repositories of relics, religious books, statues, paintings; as prayer rooms and living quarters, memorial monuments, lighthouses or watchtowers.

All pagodas have a tower-like vertical composition with decreasing tiers and end with a symbolic image of a Stupa. Tibetan temples "suburgans", intended for storing Buddhist relics, were bottle-shaped towers made of brick (or stone), lined with gold or copper. During the Yuan period, under the influence of the Lamaist traditions of Tibet and Nepal, some pagodas also received a bottle-like shape. For example, the White Pagoda, built in Beijing by Nepalese architect Aniko in 1271.

Outstanding examples of ancient Chinese architecture, such as the Gugong Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Yiheyuan Park in Beijing, the ancient city of Lijiang in Yunnan Province, ancient residential buildings in the southern part of Anhui Province and others, have already been included in the "World Cultural Heritage Catalog". The five palaces - Dong-gong (Blue Dragon), Nan-gong (Red Bird), Bei-gong (White Tiger), Xuan-wu (Black Turtle), Si-gong (Western Palace) - are not only symbols of the directions (east, west, north and south), but also images of the world. constellations that have a graphic image (Kaurov, 1998, p. 169). In addition, ancient Chinese architecture is characterized by the use of paints. Usually the roofs of the palace were covered with yellow glazed tiles, the cornices were painted blue-green, the walls, pillars and courtyards were painted red, the rooms were covered with white and dark marble platforms that glittered under the blue sky. The combination of yellow, red and green colors with white and black in the decoration of houses emphasizes the grandeur of buildings, as well as the connection with the cardinal directions and constellations.

So, we can highlight the special importance of the temples of the Ancient East: the temple as a sacred, unifying center that connected with the cosmos, the gods, and provided protection for the city. The architectural appearance of the temple formed the image of the entire city, its spirit. Cities and temples had their own extraterrestrial archetypes, were associated with the stars of Orion, Ursa Major, and Dragon. The original form of temples, the building plan, as already indicated, was a circle and rectangle, as a projection of the feminine and masculine principles, the creation of the Earth and Sky. The square symbolized the four cardinal directions, the elements.

page 122
The shape of the pyramids was a consequence of the fact that they were perceived as the union of Earth and Sky, and temples - as the dwelling of God or the place of his concentration. The statue was the embodiment of the presence of God or the focus of this energy.

The following differences can be noted: among the Sumerians, the temple is a sacred center for maintaining communication with the cosmos, the house of God. In Egypt, the temple represents the totality of the earthly and heavenly - this is the place where the gods live. In India, the city plan and division into castes reproduces the zodiac. In China, a special feature is the teaching of "fengshui" about benevolent influences and the sunny orientation of the location of palaces according to the seasons.

Common trends are color distributions in the decoration of architecture: gold and yellow were always associated with the Sun, while the other four colors (green, red, white, and black)were associated with the seasons, although there are other opinions.

You can see the general symbolism in the image of God, embodied in the plan of the city and, more specifically, temples. This is a square in a circle (India), and vice versa, i.e. a circle in a square (Sumerians, Babylon) - both are symbols of the Universe.

The image of God, the supreme cosmic force, is embodied in many cultures in a statue, but there are special features in the functions and image, in relation to them: in Sumer, the gods are anthropomorphic, live on a mountain, but the statues are intermediaries between gods and people. Statues in Egypt are the center of divine energy and the very body of the deity - this is their main purpose. In India and China, demigods in the form of animals are intermediaries between God and people, and totemic representations are common. In India, statues of gods are anthropomorphic, but with elements of super-beings (four-armed Shiva), and there are also totemic ones. In China, the image of the gods is typical in the form of a half-human or half-animal, and the gods acquire a completely human appearance in the Middle Ages. In Egypt, many gods are depicted as animals or semi-animals, for example, the god Thoth - a man with the head of a lapwing, Anubis - with the head of a black jackal. It was believed that some animals were otherworldly creatures that only at dawn take on their animal form, and in general inhabit the sphere connected with the sky and the underworld. The inhabitants of the Ancient East see the gods not separately from nature, but in their unity, the gods are nature itself: the Sun is god, the Moon is god, the River is god, Lightning is god, the Earth is god, etc.

Thus, the temple is a projection of the beginning of the world, an astronomical instrument, a projection of the universe, it is identical with the whole world.

list of literature

Assman Ya. Egypt: Theology and Piety of Early Civilization, Moscow: Priscels, 1999.
Vipper B. R. Articles about Art, Moscow: Iskusstvo Publ., 1970.

Guenon R. Zodiac and countries of the world. The first one. electr. MSU bibl.

Kaurov E. N. Observation of circumpolar constellations - the basis of archaic ancient Chinese astronomy // Ancient astronomy: sky and man. Doklady mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-metodicheskoi konferentsii [Reports of the International Scientific and methodological conference].

Kuzmin A.V. The Secret of the Sphinx // Ancient astronomy: sky and man. Doklady mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-metodicheskoi konferentsii [Reports of the International Scientific and methodological conference].

Buried Kingdoms of China, Moscow: Terra, 1998.
Sumer: Cities of Eden, Moscow: Terra, 1997.
Edwards I.E.S. The Pyramids of Egypt. London: Penguin Books, 1993.

page 123

Permanent link to this publication: